File photo. (Shutterstock)
Turkish police in the southern province of Mersin said on Friday they had detained the pro-Kurdish mayor and five other municipal administrators as part of a terrorism-related investigation.
According to a police statement, Hoshar Saliyildis, a member of the opposition DEM party and head of Mersin’s Akdeniz district, his deputy Nouriy Arslan, and four other city council members were detained and taken for questioning.
It added that they were detained on charges of “conducting propaganda of a terrorist organization,” “membership of an armed terrorist organization,” and “violation of the Anti-Terrorist Financing Act.”
The DEM, which has 57 seats in the 600-member parliament, claimed that the investigation was fabricated to justify the appointment of administrators in Akdeniz’s local government.
“We are familiar with these techniques from years of coups carried out by governments against the will of the people,” DEM said in a post on X.
A number of pro-Kurdish mayors and local governments have been detained in similar operations in recent years. The government typically appoints a receiver during legal proceedings.
The appointment of a receiver by the government has not yet been announced.
The detentions come amid Turkey’s efforts to end a four-decade conflict between the state and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militia, which has fostered hopes for peace.
The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union. (Reuters)
